Last night, we showed you the press conference that William Dawson, the Director of the Prison's Wagners Youth Facility, hosted to discuss the latest initiative to hopefully convince members of the Belize City gangs to truly turn away from the street life.
A group of government agency professionals, who work with youths who come into conflict with the law, have formed a task force. They have begun mediation efforts between warring gangs to foster the peaceful resolution of some of their deep and long-lasting conflicts.
But, during that extended conversation, members of the press challenged Dawson on the perspective that past gang intervention efforts have simply fizzled out before any measure-able change in crime and violence occurs. Yesterday, Dawson acknowledged that concern, and he said that this task force is determined to improve on the mistakes of the past. He shared his views on why he thinks those interventions haven't convinced the at-risk youths to stay away from gang life:
William Dawson - Director, Wagners Youth Facility "The many interventions that have taken place over the years were short-lived, and like the guys would say on the street, without teeth. We have to get to a point where we try something, and as I said, our approach is new. It's an inter-agency approach. I think what has happened in the past is that many groups or institutions have approached the issue singularly, and that might have been why it hasn't worked. What we're doing now, I can tell you we just came out of a meeting yesterday with the Minister of National Security, Mr. Kareem Musa, who has told us that he is supporting us 100%. One of the things that our group decided is that we do not want it to be one of those initiatives that just starts off with a bang and the flame dies off with time. I am a representative of a young man who grew up in an environment, and because of peer pressure, because of bullying, I got caught up in criminal activity, getting involved with the law, getting shot in the street. I have reached the point where I am now because of a great support system, and that is what we want to create for these young men. We had just recently a young man who was killed who was the son of a former notorious neighbourhood leader, and he was being assisted and treated at my facility, at the Wagners Youth Facility. While he was here, that young man was assessed through psychometric analysis. We sit, we talk, we counsel, we mediate, and we intervene on their behalf and find out what it is that's going through their heads. We found out that this young man was just a victim of generational trauma. He did not really want to live that lifestyle, but he did not have any option but to live that way because that was what was afforded to him. He was bailed out of the facility, and a couple of weeks later, he was dead. It was one of the more prominent reasons why we have come to the point where we've said, you know what - because it's not just him. We've lost several of those young men in a similar manner. We're saying that whenever these boys come out of prison, there is just not sufficient support for them to create a safe space for them to grow in."
